The festive season has arrived!

As you may have guessed by now, we have arrived safely in Australia. After 10 hours on the plane from home, we arrived in Perth. Then we made our way to Melbourne via another 4 hour flight. Since then we have been slowly trying to overcome the affects of jetlag while attempting to site see a bit.

This post has essentially taken two days to complete because I started to write it on the 1st of December but was forced to save it as a draft so we could go out and explore a bit. It is now the 2nd December and I hope to have the time to finish it today.

Mom’s Foot

Unfortunately, my mom always has problems with her feet. This time her left foot is the one giving the problems and it has swollen exponentially. We will actually be going to the doctor today (01/12/06) just to ensure nothing serious has occurred. Once my mom’s foot is sorted, we will be able to really begin our tour of Melbourne and the state of Victoria.

All in all though we are well. Mom feels fine otherwise and my dad is good too.

Yeah… we went to the doctor and she simply said that it seems like gout. To my mom was prescribed the usual remedies for gout and we were on our way. She is feeling a lot better now with her foot slipping in and out of pain as the day goes on.

The Maya’s!

In Melbourne we are staying with family friends known as the Maya’s! They consist of Pierre, Maleena, Robert and Darren. They are incredibly wonderful people and have made us feel so at home. They literally allow us to live at their home as if we lived with them (which is what we are essentially doing) and are part of the family. Unfortunately for Robert and Darren (Pierre and Mileena’s sons) they have been ‘kicked’ out of their rooms for us. I feel a little guilty about it because I have a whole room to myself but hey… who am I to complain ?

What have we been doing?

The best part about our holiday has been how relaxed it has been. I honestly can’t stand rushing and trying to fit in as many things as possible due to time constraints. I remember our last holiday that was like that… yes… the dreaded Tour of Italy in 2003. I swear… we needed a holiday from that holiday ! One very good thing did come out of it though and that was my penpal Angie, who is Italian and lives in Canada (Hey Ange ).

Since arriving my parents took it upon themselves to shop for groceries and other necessities for the duration of our stay with the Maya’s. This may not sound that interesting but it actually was. The reason for this is that Pierre and Maleena took us to a place called Springvale, which is like a little China town. Food there is really cheap and well prepared. Honestly, if we did not live here we would never have gone there and instead we would have payed exorbitant prices for the same goods (in a grocery store or similar equivalent) that are at a minimum of 10 percent less in price. They have been taking us everywhere and showng us the real Aus way of life, not some half baked touristy tour of the state of Victoria. I think it is brilliant to get a real feel for life here, especially since we are going to immigrate to Aus within the next two years, if not sooner. Oh yeah… fruit here is incredible! Really… I have never seen such large grapes and mangoes (see the picture above and to the right) in my life. They have everything too… even fruit I have never heard of before. That is the other thing. Variety in this country is amazing (and a little ridiculous at times), very much like the states (the US of A). Take milk, for example, here in Aus they have: skinny milk, calcium enriched milk, low fat milk, organic milk, full cream milk, lactose free milk, completely fat free milk, flavoured milk and milk that comes in three litre bottles as standard. Just bare in mind… that I have only mentioned milk. Just imagine what shopping for groceries is like for us poor choice deprived South Africans … took a whole freaken day! LOL!

Since our arrival I have noticed that food in Aus does not only taste good but it is very well prepared in terms of the health conscience. Seriously… i had a chicken espetada from Nando’s (yes, they have Nando’s down under) and it was skinless as well as fat free (the ones from SA have these gross little fat deposits … but still taste damn fine! LOL). Food in general is quite cheap and very good. I am, however, watching what I eat because there is no way I’m going to balloon in weight over here… I’ve worked to hard over the past year to get where I am now (that is not to say that I’m not enjoying every morsel that comes my way ). LOL!

Chadstone (again)

Yesterday we went to the Chadstone shopping centre (pronounced Chad-Stun) and shopped up a bit of a storm. For those of you who can recall, I went to Chadstone last year as well and really did a number on my credit card .

One of the coolest aspects was that i could remember exactly where all the shops were even though I had only been there once before. I’ve noticed that I can actually navigate myself around Melbourne as well which has simply shocked Maleena and Pierre who can’t believe how good my memory is considering the last time I was here was over a year ago (I must say… I too am pretty surprised ).

At Chadstone I visited two of my favourite stores… EB Games and JB’s Hi-Fi. When I am within these stores I slip into a dazed state. My eyes glaze over and I lose all touch with reality. You all know how much I love gaming so to be within a store that specialises in games and technology, makes me vibrate with intense energy (if I had ovaries they would have started spinning).

I was finally able to purchase the Xbox 360 Vision Camera and Wirelesss headset. I can’t wait to return home to try them out. I even saw the wireless racing wheel which looks fantastic and is so well made and packaged. I actually want one even though I know I would never use it .

I also purchased the following games for my 360: Superman Returns, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas and Viva Pinata.

Well Milieu Pals, thats about it for now. Well, I actually have a lot more to say, but I just need to find the time. Seems we are going out again now. Not sure where but I hope it is to Southbank. Hope you are all well and remember to check back soon, leave comments and subscribe to the Hans’ Milieu RSS feed!

About me

Hi, I'm Hans. A Ludologist by education; writer, marketer and ecommerce curator by trade; foodie by nature; and a tech, gadget and gamer geek in my spare time. This blog is where I share my personal thoughts on almost everything and anything.